Finding the Lost Battalion: Roster of Men Known To Have Been in the Charlevaux Ravine Between 1900 HRS 02OCT1918 and 1930 HRS 07OCT1918

There never was a complete and total list of who was or was not in the Charlevaux Ravine between the evenings of October 2nd and October 7th, 1918. Therefore family legend, miscommunication, misunderstanding of unit designation and just plain subterfuge has led there to be considerable speculation on the subject. During the 1920’s and 1930’s it was a rather glamorous thing to have been a member of the Lost Battalion and some who were not actually in the Charlevaux Ravine but were in the 77th Division and in the area at the time, and sometimes those just seeking attention, were not above stretching the truth a bit and laying claim to the distinction (including the gangster Al Capone). In fact, had every man who made the claim, or whose family did years later, actually been in the ravine, it would have been more akin to a lost division rather than the degraded battalion strength unit that it was!

What follows is the culmination of 20 years’ worth of research into the question of who actually was in the Lost Battalion and who was not. Dozens of sources were consulted for the creation of this list and it represents what may be considered to be the most accurate accounting possible.

KEY: W=Wounded; KIA=Killed in Action; POW=Prisoner of War; S=Sickness; DOW=Died of Wounds. (Note: Sickness includes those simply too weak to walk out of the Pocket. Though frequently unspecified, most often the cause was influenza.)

The total number listed as killed during the episode comes to 122, while the total number listed as wounded equals 242. Additionally, there are also 9 men listed as missing, 34 that were taken prisoner, 49 evacuated as sick. Added up then, this gives a total number of casualties of 456, or a casualty rate of just over 66 percent, against a total strength of 694. Yet this does not reflect those losses due to hunger, general weakness and the process of ‘weeding out’ that the four remaining officers went through just before the march out from the Charlevaux Ravine. These further detracted from Whittlesey’s remaining force, and figuring again from an original strength of 694, less the 194 that walked out of the ravine, we then get a total loss of 500. This then gives an aggregate loss of over 72 percent, or in other words, 2 out of 3 men became a casualty of some kind during the five days of the siege in the Charlevaux Ravine.